Ratifying Miguel Herrera As Mexico Coach Is Logical

By Lucas Carreras

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

In what will be a move of no surprise, Miguel Herrera, the man who coached Mexico in their World Cup Qualifying Playoff win against New Zealand, will be confirmed as the coach of ‘El Tri’ for the 2014 World Cup and for the 2018 World Cup cycle as his interim tag will be made permanent on Monday by the owners of Liga MX clubs. In addition to the recommendation that Herrera’s confirmation as the national team coach is on a full time basis, Ricardo Pelaez will confirmed as the national team coordinator with all sporting manners while the current national team coordinator, Hector Gonzalez Iñarrtitu, will be dealing with all logistical and commercial manners of the national teams.

The move to make Herrera the full time coach of the ‘El Tri’ is the most logical and frankly the best decision that the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (FMF) could have made in the short term and in the long term. In the short term, it is clear that with the World Cup being a little over six months away the options in terms of finding someone who would be willing to come in at this time with or without the guarantee that they would be allowed to coach Mexico in the 2018 cycle are limited. This concerns the talk of Marcelo Bielsa who was mentioned as a potential option but it became immediately clear he would decline any overtures. Therefore, sticking with Herrera became the best and most viable option.

With Herrera as coach, Mexico will have a man who will have a clear plan of how to assemble and field a team that will not have as much time working with the coach leading them into the competition next summer in Brazil in comparison to the 31 other teams. As for the long term, Herrera will do much to help the senior national team move forward and not repeat the horrors and struggles of the final round of World Cup Qualifying.

The fact is that looking at his career arc Herrera was eventually going to become the coach of ‘El Tri’. It just happened his ascendency to the post at this time was due to certain circumstances that happened within the last year. Because 2013 was a year to forget for ‘El Tri’, Herrera’s appointment will give the national team a figure who will bring some much needed stability to that position as Mexico looks ahead to life after the 2014 World Cup. Add to it that Pelaez will be working alongside of him and it is clear that Mexico will have a structure and a work plan for the next six months as well as the next four years to (hopefully) help ‘El Tri’ excel.

Lucas Carreras is a contributing Soccer writer for RantSports.com. You can follow Lucas on Twitter by following him @maldini3fan and you can add him to your network on Google.